Elaine
English offers a general legal practice that focuses
specifically on media, entertainment and publishing law. She
assists authors, journalists, photographers and other creators
of intellectual property, small businesses and publishing
companies, video, tv and production companies, talent and
others with contracts, copyright, trademark, libel,  privacy,
pre-publication review, business operations, and other issues
of law.
She also prepares powers of attorney, wills and trusts, especially
for clients with intellectual property, and she advises and
represents requesters of government information.
Elaine serves as General Counsel to several writers’
organizations, including Washington Romance Writers, advising
them on non-profit and other associational matters. For more
information about specific areas of practice, see Areas
of Practice.
She has more than twenty-two years’ experience as an
attorney in these fields, and is admitted to practice in the
District of Columbia and Virginia. She holds a B.A. from Randolph
Macon Woman’s College (Phi Beta Kappa), a M.Ed. from
the University of Maryland, and her J.D. from the National
Law Center at George Washington University.
She writes and lectures frequently on publishing and freedom
of information topics and for several years taught a media
law course at The George Washington University in Washington,
D.C. In 1991 she drafted legislation to amend the District
of Columbia Freedom of Information Act on behalf of the Mayor's
Office. She is a member of the American Bar Association (Real
Property, Probate & Trust Law Section, and Communications
Law Forum) and District of Columbia Bar (Estates, Trusts &
Probate and the Arts, Entertainment and Sports Law Sections)
Her love of books drove her in 2001 to begin offering services
as a literary agent. In that capacity, she represents authors
of commercial fiction, including women’s fiction, romances,
mysteries and thrillers. She defines women’s fiction
and romance broadly to include “chick lit,” erotica,
and a full range of works from light contemporaries to dark
historicals. She is drawn to good stories with strong, believable
characters. She is a member of the Association of Authors’
Representatives, Inc. and is an RWA-recognized agent. She
also is an associate member of both Romance Writers of America
and Novelists, Inc. She regularly attends a number of writers’
conferences and has judged several chapter contests.
Tara Blaise will be assisting me with both
the legal and agenting sides of my practice. Tara recently
left a career in commercial real estate to pursue her longtime
goal of opening a bakery in DC. While getting that venture
off the ground, she is learning the agenting business and
enjoying reading submissions. Her background is in French
and German Literature, with a Bachelors Degree from George
Washington University.
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